


Abductee

by Consulted_moriarty



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Abduction/Aliens, Also smut lbr, Gore, Horror, M/M, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-15
Updated: 2016-11-23
Packaged: 2018-07-24 03:20:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7491375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Consulted_moriarty/pseuds/Consulted_moriarty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>0900 ;; FOX NEWS ;; "Twenty One Pilots drummer, Joshua Dun, has been reported missing for the fourth week now. Please call and notify the police if anyone is seen matching his description."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. moonshine

**Author's Note:**

> gonna be dark, gonna be spooky, gonna have a few mistakes here and there but i don't get paid for this so calm your titties  
> buckle up, motherfuckers

Joshua Dun has been abducted. This is not what is being reported on the news, at least not in the same context. Joshua Dun has been taken, the news reports say, or else he is missing, because they do not know better. There has been no witnesses to the supposed _happening_ and no one knows _anything._ Especially not Tyler Joseph, who's entire life has come to a crushing halt at the loss of his best friend. Jenna Joseph has and will continue to be his best support, rubbing his back and he endures endless interviews by police force or search & rescue or news channels. The worst part, he admits to Jenna, is how the fans have taken it. It hasn't been good, it hasn't been light. He's lost lives because he's lost his best friend, especially as it has brought (more or less) an end to any sort of live performance.

Some insist the pressure got too great, that the anxious human fled the scene of publicity for a life of solitude. If that were true, Tyler would have believed it. He knows better, his unconscious mind knows better. Oh, his dreams are the worst. He's constantly tossing and turning at night, nearly rolling Jenna out of bed in his quiet tantrums at the loss of his friend. They had been logical dreams at first, witnessing the taking by some dangerous fans or else someone close to the circle, like a security guard. But Tyler's dreams had begun to dwindle into more confusing spaces. He instead dreams of confusing colors and bright spaces, Josh lying on a table shirtless. His eyes are closed and his face is relaxed like he is at peace with himself, like he is dead. Tyler tries to reach out and touch, tries to wake him, but he only ends up waking in a cold sweat when his fingers have been replaced with long and grey digits that are not his own. Abduction is a loose term, it does not cover the suspect.

Jenna is so patient. Tyler really loves her, he really does. But he can't help but obsess over Josh, cover his office in photos and news articles and suggestions for where he could be. They've traveled half the country, exploring all the places Tyler remembers Josh saying he wish he could stay at. Tyler has flown or driven to National Parks, walking the Arches in Utah and hiking all over the Sand Dunes in Colorado at nighttime. For how frequented the latter National Park had been by aliens (says some website that Tyler believes without question), he's expecting _something._ Instead, he's lucky if he saw two shooting stars. No Josh.

Week four is the start of the hallucinations. It's auditory at first, and it begins when he's in the bathroom at around ten at night. He's brushing his teeth, preparing for bed. The simple white bathroom does wonders to put his tan skin in contrast and he looks up from the basin of the sink, seeing all the ink that's covered his chest and arms. He brushes his teeth slowly, the sounds only complimented by Jenna humming and turning pages of her book in the bedroom. Tyler doesn't know what she's reading but he hopes it's the bible. He feels awkward and stiff, unable to reach his God for help and instead believing in whimsical monsters such as aliens. Tyler groans at himself, disgusted by his reflection. He bends, spitting into the sink and running his toothbrush under water before shutting the faucet off. 

"...help..."

It's soft, shaky. Tyler stands tall, blinking at himself in the mirror.

"What's that, babe?" He calls out to Jenna, not even daring to turn and head to the bedroom. He's not sure she's the one who said anything.

"...I didn't say anything, sugar." Jenna hums out, although Tyler's only heard half of it before he's tuned her out. Of course she hasn't said anything. Tyler grabs the edge of the counter, leaning in towards his reflection. He reaches up with shaking fingers when he sees a stray eyelash on his cheek, pinching it and releasing it from his face.

"...hey you!"

Tyler reels back, turning away from the mirror and hitting the lights on his way out of the bathroom. He tugs on his briefs slightly, shivering at the colder air of their bedroom. Tyler moves under the thick covers, smiling and looking over at Jenna. She smiles but does not look up from her book until Tyler leans in for a kiss. Jenna catches it effortlessly, closing her book to place on her nightstand. She leans away, shutting off the light on her side and watching Tyler do the same. They settle in for the night, cuddling close and kissing sporadically until Jenna spins up on top of Tyler, straddling him. Tyler's deliberately avoided all sex with her for the past few weeks, but he's feeling the same agitation. He engages in it with her, kissing and chuckling at her soft touches and gasps. When they turn over and he slowly rocks into her, whispering sweet nothings into her ear, he swears he feels the mattress shift as if someone has sat beside them.

He pauses, making Jenna make a confused noise. Tyler looks over, eyes going wide at the one arm he sees in the moonlight. That tattoo...belongs to his missing friend. He swallows, struggling to discern his reality from his imagination. After a moment, Jenna follows his line of sight.

"What're you looking at, Ty?" She wonders, looking back at Tyler. Tyler gives the slightest shakes of his head before letting it hang, his eyes closing slowly. He's already gone soft, both from fear and shock when neither response had been necessary. He slips out of her, shakily dropping down to his side of the bed. He apologizes despite knowing it is never necessary with Jenna. She kisses his nose, telling him how much she loves him until he falls asleep.

When he wakes, he is in a cold sweat. It is not a good one accompanied by the onset of a sickness, it is a violent one that shakes him from the covers and makes him sit up before pulling his knees to his chest. He mutters calming phrases, his eyes cast towards the ceiling as if he'll cut right through and reach to the heavens for his savior. Instead, he's only inviting the shadows to close in. Tyler turns, flicking on the nightstand light and letting it flood the room. His eyes slowly adjust, his attention not caught by Jenna's sleepy groaning. When he looks at the clock, it's a shocking change to exactly three in the morning and all Tyler can obsess about is how that is the witching hour and how there's a darkness in his room. He wonders how Josh could have possibly kept these demons away all these years and it makes him cry. God, he cries so fucking hard and Jenna holds him and holds him until he slumps in her arms and falls quiet in yet another wave of restless sleep.

Week six brings the worst of it, the real call of fucking insanity. Tyler's unable to function, clutching his bible to his chest and sitting on the floor in his office. Jenna knows better than to ask if he's okay or to provide comfort, he only snaps and chokes up. He's written so much music, it's fucking unbelievable. Only there's _nothing_ he can do with it, he doesn't have his goddamn drummer. Interviewers are left at the door, an endless ringing of the doorbell being their only interruption to his meditation. He's getting hysterical, laughing at nothing and cursing Josh out. He did this on _purpose,_ he _wants_ Tyler to suffer. That's all he can think as he turns over the thick book in his hand and starts tearing out pages.

Week seven is quiet, dead quiet. He's not even depressed, he's just gone. He thinks he's reaching the final stages, finally accepting that his friend is gone forever. He's considered every outcome, considered every possible way that Josh has suffered a miserable or quiet death. He's suffered them, too. Tyler is finally learning to move on, to meet Jenna for breakfast or to talk about getting a puppy with her. She brightens up at that and, like a domino effect, it slowly brightens Tyler up as well. It helps that he doesn't have the constant reminder of so many curious interviewers and fans, like everyone is slowly learning to forget. He's buried his best friend in his sleep, he's no longer planning on stressing it. It'll hit him annually, just like losing a good friend would, but he thinks he can get back to Jenna and find a way to still function with his music. This is the thought that rolls him into week eight.

He wakes with a soft smile, rolling over and kissing Jenna's face until she wakes with a laugh and pushes him away.

"You're like a puppy!" She remarks, scrunching her face up at Tyler. Tyler laughs, propping up on an elbow and looming over her with a morning glow of a smile. "Your breath smells like a puppy, too!" Jenna adds, rolling onto her back as if she needs fresh air. Tyler tilts his head back in a laugh before leaning down and kissing her. She gently wraps arms around his neck, absolutely refraining from asking about the sudden change in behavior. She will not dig up the bones of what Tyler's so diligently buried. She will not bring back what's destroyed her marriage for almost two months. They kiss and kiss and then they fuck soft and sweet and slow and Tyler keeps telling her how gorgeous she is even as she continues to yawn and rub her eyes.

She comes that way, laughing with a grumbling stomach. Tyler kisses her tummy, indicating that he's aware she's starved. He's up at that, moving like one orgasm has given him an abundance of energy. He finds his underpants, tugging them on before promising her eggs. Tyler bounds down the stairs to the kitchen, banging pans around until he's got a fair sized one on the stove. He makes breakfast, eggs and toast, and Jenna joins when he calls up to her. She sips at her orange juice, staring him down from across the table with a sparkle in her eye.

"Let's get that puppy." Tyler says, not looking up as he jabs a yolk with his fork. He retracts the utensil, the precious egg gushing yellow onto the plate. Jenna hums, clearly still chewing a bite. Or...maybe she's thinking it over. Maybe she thinks this is a freak day and getting a puppy on impulse is a bad idea.

"Okay." She says instead. After a moment she adds, "beagle or poodle?"

"Beagle, what kind of question is that?" Tyler jokes, finally looking up and catching one of her breathtaking smiles. They clean up the dishes before showering together, dressing for the day and deciding to walk down to the pet store. They pass a series of shops, some are jewelry stores and some are just odd cafes bringing in precarious crowds. Tyler stops in front of one of those cafes, something on the television catching his attention.

It's the arm. No, not the arm. It's the tattoo, the colors. He nearly tears the door open to get inside, catching just the end of the report and struggling to remember the very brief photo that had been shown of a man with pink hair and long brown roots lying in a hospital bed.

"What did that say?" Tyler shouts, frantic. He points at the television before looking around. "Did they find him? Was that him?" He can't say the name and that's catching the attention of patrons. They look around, confused. No one has noticed the television was even on. Tyler lets out a defeated noise, hands grabbing his hair as he looks back at the tv. Jenna's hand is at the small of his back, her other hand gently removing one of Tyler's hand from ripping out his own hair.

"Let's go, baby." She says softly. "No one saw anything, come on."

Tyler shakes his head, looking over his shoulder to her.

"That was him, I saw it. That was him and he's in the hospital. I don't know which one but I'll tear apart this whole fucking country to find him."

Tyler spins at that, shoving the cafe door open and storming out with the soft ding of the door ringing in the distance.


	2. sunboy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i / a m/ t @ k en by the (stars)

_With shortness of breath, you explained the infinite. How rare and beautiful it truly is that we exist._

  * Saturn // Sleeping at Last



In the call of abandonment, in the stretch of loneliness, a mortal reaches for his memories to cling to. In the breath of sensation that was past lovers and long-time friends, they cling to something that only seems an illusion now. It is difficult to breathe reality into something they are so sure is a fantasy; or worse yet, their damnation. They do not recall passing from Earth into this world, they do not remember doing anything but walking home on a brisk August evening before this scenery. It’s frightening and they are so, so alone. Crying has no effect anymore, their tear ducts ripped from their eyes in embarrassment of human emotions only mocked by the species that swarms him. What was once a bright and hopeful shirt that he wore everywhere has become a laughing jab at his situation, at his realization, at his damnation.

_I’ve been abducted._

                Joshua Dun has been taken by extraterrestrials and he doesn’t think they’re going to bring him back. He’s learning a lot, he’s learning about how time works outside his planet and across the solar system and he’s realizing that he has no grasp of what humans rely on so heavily, the tick of a clock tolling out time. Without it and without the sun announcing morning or night, he’s lost his bearings. He doesn’t know up from down, mostly because there is no way to find out when his bones sag heavily into a white table like an artificial gravity has it out for him. He’s never been so sure of wanting to die and he’s never been so far from any power to do so.

                A sort of silence has fallen over him, one that he has not endured since he graduated high school. He doesn’t need to speak or scream or cry. There’s nothing he can do that alters what they want from him. They, the bright movements in the room. Their images look more like the absence of the surgical lights that Josh thinks are all around him. He keeps his eyes mostly shut, it’s too hard to look when the lights are on and they’re in the room. But when they leave and the touching is over, God. That’s even worse. The loneliness. It becomes so dark that Josh can’t help but see shifting images and creatures in the darkness and his croaking voice calls out to them.

                _Hello? Is anyone here?_

                It’s hard to speak, to actually use his voice beyond moans or screams of pain. It’s sort of like his words get sucked from him and he doesn’t know if he actually spoke anything because he doesn’t _hear_ his voice in the room. Like a vacuum of space. He’s so confused and his human mind positively isn’t grasping just the start of it. The worst part is when he sees Tyler, when he sees Tyler shaking his head and walking away like he’s _disappointed._

                _Wait! Come back! I’m sorry, Tyler!_

Josh knows why he sees Tyler doing that. It’s not because he asked for this taking, it’s not because he’s taking the touching like he wants it, he doesn’t. It’s because he loves Tyler Joseph so fucking _much_ and maybe Tyler found out and _made_ them take Josh away. Either way, he knows what he’s done. He knows he’s stopped fighting the feelings and has begun to show more signs here and there. He knows Jenna and he loves her to pieces and he doesn’t want to take Tyler away, he doesn’t want to be selfish like that. But for Tyler to _know,_ for Tyler to spend every moment with Josh knowing Josh loved him more than anything in the world…yeah. That’s what Josh wants. Well, wanted.

He supposes it’s arbitrary to want anything now. That sort of hopelessness is probably what starts to make him fade. That and the severe starvation and dehydration. He knows there’s large tubes in him, even one down his throat as the most recent punishment dealt. He figures he’s being kept alive by another being’s will and not his own, and that’s the worst part. He has _no_ say in what he wants or needs, he’s just there for someone else’s use. He thinks about lab rats, about how unjust their life must feel. He wishes he was a rat more and more every moment, wanting to creep away under large containers and small nooks in the walls.

If Josh does manage to sleep, he’s not sure because it feels the same as when he’s in the darkness of the room, he doesn’t have nightmares. He probably should but he figures his mind just wants the break from the waking nightmare. He usually just recalls childhood memories, like this is some prolonged moment of death and he’s slowly recalling everything. He likes thinking about riding his bike with Jordan, about how they’d go to a creak and poke bubbles out of the rushing brook where small frogs croaked at their intrusion. He remembers Jordan catching snakes and letting him pet them, he remembers Jordan holding reptiles near Josh’s face and introducing them like he was a fellow reptile. He liked that feeling, he doesn’t anymore.

The fear starts to really grow in Josh. He doesn’t spent one session in the light without a frantic little heart pounding in his chest. He feels like his stomach is being pumped to the brim and everything is filtering back up through the tube like he’s too full. He feels his eyes water out of necessity to the obtrusion in his throat, his arms poked and a thin slice cut in behind his ear. He wants to laugh at that but all he remembers is every x-files episode where the abductee had a tracker behind their ear. Josh tries to remember that he just experienced that so he can tear it out if he ever sees home again. He thinks the worst of the testing…or whatever this is, is the psychological test. Everything is just to see how he’s taking it, that has to be it. They’re not _really_ hurting him, not cutting off limbs and hurting his family.

All at once, it stops. The lights, the weird noises that made his ears bleed. The touching. He’s not breathing through artificial tubes, if he is even breathing at all. Maybe they collapsed his chest, maybe he is finally gone. He’s not sure if it’ll get much worse or if he’ll just wake up in the same spot, which is nerve wracking. He feels like he’s in a limbo of planet and ship, weirdly packaged up for the ride home and he feels like he’s getting a head rush for a bit before everything stops. When he begins to feel something for the first time, something real, his body swarms in the touch. He knows this feeling, he knows it like every time he’s ever rolled down a grassy hill with his siblings or tried to run through corn rows at a farm. He knows the feeling like someone’s shoving tall grass blades into his spine and demanding consciousness. It is with the compliment of sunrise that his eyes finally open and see _something_ other than light and dark. He sees the contrast of blue to orange and green in his peripherals and a tall looming figure that makes Josh scream.

It feels so good to hear himself scream. He forgot the sound of his voice but this rush of memory makes him scream twice as hard, shaking arms lifting in defense as he’s _finally_ not held down. He can move! He tries to make sense of how his arms and legs needed to function to back away from the creature, to shove upright and spin away. He only manages a slight wiggle, his screaming turning to croaks. The figure crouches down, the haze of their image reduced to an older man with a cotton like beard fluffing over his chin. The screams die down, the outfit of the farmer looking too convincing to still be a monster.

                “You don’t belong here.” The farmer says, his accent thick and confusing. Josh doesn’t realize he’s still able to react as much as he is, tears flooding his cheeks and his head shaking slightly. No, no, he doesn’t. But he’s not one of them! He’s a human, he _does_ belong here. “This is private property.” The farmer adds, and Josh realizes. He looks away, propping up over the grass a bit to look at the wooden homes and the people strolling in outfits that made Josh think he went back in time.

                “W-Wh-ere?” Josh tries to choke out, looking back at the man who extends a hand. Josh shakes his head, trying yet again to move away. “I c-ca-“ He shudders, turning his head and dry heaving before his body slumps back against the cold grass still tickling his nude spine. When he wakes again, people are helping him move and he’s wearing something that he can’t tell what it is but it feels heavy on his shoulders and he wonders where he’s going. But lifting his head answers that question when an ambulance pulls up at the perimeter of the property and Josh’s head slowly turns to glance at the buildings once more, wondering why he hasn’t seen any cars or farming equipment. The wardrobe of the people passing by suddenly makes sense and he mouths an _oh_ on the way into the ambulance.

                Josh knows he’s being asked questions. He knows he’s not providing answers. It’s hard for his body to stay in the moment when he feels like he’s lying back onto the table he was on for what felt like decades. He almost wants to ask if anyone knows what year it is, but he refrains on account of that question possibly causing some trouble concerning his mental state. Instead, he allows himself to just pass out again, thinking it’ll save the trouble of trying to make sense of _everything_ that has happened.

                When he finally wakes again, it’s to the horror of flashing lights while he lies on a bed. He immediately screams, hands coming up like he’s returned to the torture he endured. His ears are ringing and he keeps his eyes tightly shut until someone’s moving his arm and he opens his eyes just in time to see a needle pressing in with what was probably sedatives. The crowd, as Josh slowly realized they were people and likely reporters, were pushed from the room next and Josh was left alone. Just like before. He looks around, taking in the white walls and softer bed and beeping machines. He stares at the window the most, watching white clouds puff by and wiping at moisture on his face when the occasional realization of being back on Earth reminds him how lucky and unlucky he is.

                For just a moment, he feels okay. He’s completely convinced that everything is real around him. All his senses are filled with a familiar hospital, one that he remembers taking Jordan to when he broke his wrist. He can almost reach out to touch the clouds, his mind wondering about his family and his ears picking up the familiar tunes of the hospital. Aside from the beeping of his oxygen monitor, he can hear nurses and doctors chatting outside his cracked door. He can hear occasional beeps of what was likely the elevator. The cadence of the hospital keeps him awake when sleep threatens to steal him back to a dark place, his body antsy and conscious even when nurses first insist he sleep before threaten to use sleeping aids. Josh refrains, pushing through medicines with a willpower only derived from fear, heavy eyelids watching out the window at the night of Ohio where occasional planes flashed through the night sky.

                The stability of his precious landscape comes to a crashing halt when someone crashes through his door in the morning with nurses in tow. They’re pulling the figure away, demanding he either sign in as a proved family member or they’d be forced to get security and all Josh can manage to choke out is,

                “Tyler.”


	3. homeward bound

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> .

                It feels like fucking static is coursing through Tyler’s veins. Every step cracks as thunder might, abrupt and sharp against the tile ground as he enters one hospital after the next. Jenna’s quiet, just tagging along and apologizing if Tyler shoves anyone aside. He’s gone too long, he’s gone too…too fucking long without Josh. He’s going to…yes. He’s going to beat the shit out of Josh when he sees him. Tyler knows that anger is a phase, which he’ll probably end up crying or being speechless instead. He doesn’t…actually have it in him to hurt his friend. Besides, if Josh is really in the hospital because he’s been hurt, Tyler knows better than to add one aggressive word to it. It’s just…fuck. He destroyed a bible over Josh, he left Jenna at the curb for Josh.

                And Josh just left. Wherever he went, whatever he did, the weight of his choice came down on Tyler. It felt horrible, like Tyler was a dependent housewife looking for her soldier. He couldn’t think straight, snapping at nurses when they couldn’t identify anyone still in intensive care. He was in Ohio, where the fuck did he need to go? Was Josh back home? He didn’t even know where to start, too overwhelmed. That’s how it came down on Tyler, his steps slowing outside of the second hospital. He looks up at the blue sky, admiring the lack of clouds and the exposure of the sun beaming down overhead. He blinks hard, spots forming in his vision as he stares down the fucking star of his solar system. Jenna is at his back, fingers soothing up and down his spine. She doesn’t speak because she knows as much as Tyler does and that doesn’t include Josh’s location. She is hesitant to think that Tyler’s hallucinating again, only because that had passed so long ago. But…she isn’t entirely ruling it out, she’s just letting the episode run its course.

                “Maybe…” Tyler is thinking aloud now, spilling out every hospital he knows off the top of his head. There’s still easily over fifteen in the city and nearby, he’s not going to narrow the list down or find Josh that day. He rubs at his temples, groaning. He needs something, he needs a hand. Jenna’s soothing him and offering calming words but Tyler shakes his head and crumbles to his knees as the anxiety sets in and he starts to breathe hard. He’ll never find Josh, it was just a hallucination. Josh is dead somewhere, crammed in someone’s basement. The last moments of his life were spent for some insane fan’s benefit, like he was only there to service others. God. Tyler hyperventilates, shrieking at the idea and only staying put because of Jenna’s secure grip on his shoulders.

                “P-Pl-Please God,” Tyler chokes out, bitter and resenting the figure he had long since given up in at Josh’s initial disappearance. Yet he was now crawling back on his knees, begging for some sort of aid like any other sinner might. Only seeking God in a time of need, really? Tyler hears his mom cycle through his head like dark thoughts, like impulsive needs to relapse or do something he hasn’t done for years and years. Childhood habits. “Please h-help me find…find my friend. P-Please give me a sign.” Tyler begs through short and sharp breaths, his knees aching on the pavement. Jenna makes a noise of pity, her hands tightly gripping Tyler’s shoulders as he bows his head and prays. Begs. Tyler stays like that for a minute or two more, the sounds of nearby intersections and vehicles telling him that life continues to go on even as his own has come to a crashing halt. Jenna’s breathing is warm against his ear, ticking him as she prays for his protection and his guidance from God. He realizes he hasn’t heard Jenna pray to him in a good amount of time and it feels familiar, it feels like he’s not the only one who’s human and slipping from Holiness.

                Tyler swallows and shifts when he feels ready, taking Jenna’s hand and slowly getting back to his feet. He bends to brush off the knees of his jeans, adjusting his sweater before he looks around at them. Hospital life continues, ambulances coming and going. Life goes on. They should go get that puppy, Tyler thinks. It’d be a good distraction, it’d take the focus away from…all of this. This panic. This useless fight. He is still praying silently, running a mantra and begging for some assistance from God. He just wants Josh back, he’ll do anything. He’ll go back to church, he’ll help out with nonprofits. He’ll start writing music again. It’s that last thought that really lingers with Tyler, which makes him think it must be the best bartering point he’s got. He’ll go back to singing, he’ll find a way to get his music out there. He just needs to find Josh.

                Jenna is the one who offers to drive this time. They’ve sped around the city enough and she just wants to get home in one piece, probably to tuck her depressed husband into bed for the afternoon. She’s so patient, it’s really all Tyler can be thankful for on the way to their car. He climbs into the passenger seat, buckling up and slumping against the window as she starts to drive. He doesn’t really like this side of the city, the roads are bumpy and everyone drives worse than the rest of Ohio. He stares out at the highway they pull onto, watching cars of every color and size pass by. Jenna’s a safe driver but she usually doesn’t drive quite this slow. Tyler doesn’t bother to comment on it, staring out the window at a fast food semi passing by. The back of the vehicle has large yellow signs about which side a car shouldn’t be on when it makes a tight turn and Tyler imagines how nice it’d be for the semi to jack-knife and kill him instantly.

                He refrains from voicing that thought, too. Tyler looks up and counts airplanes as they pass by the airport, watching them weave in and out of lanes. He traces a cross over and over into his thigh with his pointer finger, trying to channel his higher self to get in touch with God. He’s been _there_ before, in tune like a pastor without the degree. In some ways, he knows the bible better than a pastor or his mom. He does trust God, even if he doesn’t like him right now. He knows that it’s going to work out, he just wishes it’d work out in his favor. Tyler blinks sleepily, staring at the side of a bus that’s slowly creeping past them. He admires the blue logo for the featured company or business or whatever. It makes him think of a Chinese button and it draws his attention to the words.

                OhioHealth, _Believe in We._

                “Holy fuck.” Tyler whispers, blood draining from his face. He can feel Jenna’s gaze on him, he can feel it go past his fixed gaze and out at the bus somehow keeping pace with them. He doesn’t know what to think, hesitating to doubt that this is even a sign. Just a coincidence, right? Tyler follows the line of text, the numbers and the hours of operation.

                Grant Medical Center.

                “Get off this highway.” Tyler says, finally peeling his eyes away to look at Jenna. She looks horrified but obliges as any stunned driver might. Tyler digs out his phone, typing in the hospital so he could get directions. He shakes as he points and directs her through the backroads, his heart pounding with a new weight to it. He doesn’t think this is going to be a lost cause. He knows it won’t be. A lot of Amish families go to this hospital, Tyler idly thinks as they pull into a parking spot and he spots the wardrobe. Only if there’s medical emergencies, of course. He knows they steer clear of the technology and electricity a hospital is packed full of. But accidents happen and he sees a young girl walking out with her mom, her arm wrapped up in a simple white cast. Tyler smiles at her, trying to keep a decent pace as he walks through the automatic door and approaches the desk.

                “Um, hi. Hello.” Tyler shifts, digging out his wallet to show his ID. “I think my friend was just admitted here. Joshua Dun?” He asks, lighting up when her eyes widen. She nods her head and explains that they do have someone in a room but that they’ve been denied visitors per the doctor’s orders. Tyler’s stomach tightens at that, his hands clenching at his sides. “I _have_ to see him. Please?” He asks, knowing it’s a lost cause when the nurse only apologizes. Tyler glances down, seeing where her finger is pressed into one of the many names on a chart. Joshua Dun. He looks over, her hand following along and covering up the room number just as he finds where it’s at on the paper. He clenches his jaw, thinking he may have seen a three. Third floor, good start. He thanks her and takes his ID back, moving slowly as to not spike her suspicion of malicious intent.

                Then he runs. He runs like a bat out of Hell and Jenna yells for him to come back and he hears the nurse calling for security. He feels so real and alive and he feels God hot at his back as he takes the stairs two at a time. All his time on the stage and shooting hoops at night pay off when his healthy cardiovascular system makes him outrun one of the guards who tries to intercept him on the second floor. He reaches the third and has to shove someone out of his way, which preempts him to see a guard going for his taser.

                “Where is Joshua’s room?” Tyler shouts, pointing at one of the nurses at a reception desk. She looks new, which only reaffirms Tyler’s faith in his savior as she panics and looks over her chart before telling him. He follows her eyes after nodding his head, turning the corner and heading down the hall to shove through a door.

                There’s no build up or crescendo to seeing Josh, even as he’s built up the entire staff of the hospital clawing at him through his sweater to yank him from the room. Everything goes numb and quiet, the sight of the blue sky pouring in through Josh’s window to the dark room. He looks drugged out of his fucking mind, his eyes heavy and his body covered in more marks than Tyler’s _ever_ seen. He looks like he’s survived every car crash that had happened in Ohio that day, and he spits out Tyler’s name like _Tyler_ was the motherfucker that left.

                “Josh!” He’s loud, louder than those telling him his rights and the squeak of his shoes on the ground. By this point, Jenna is caught up and trying to sooth the situation by yelling at the doctor to let Tyler in. It’s not really working and Tyler screams louder than he has in a long time when the prongs of a taser snap into his shoulder blade. He crumbles in submission, yanked out as the doctor explains the situation with the reporters getting into the room earlier. Jenna listens and follows along, trying to remain calm even though tears sting her eyes at Tyler’s slumped body being dragged around like he wasn’t a brilliant person and musician.

                When Tyler wakes, he’s slumped in a hospital chair with his head on Jenna’s shoulder. He slowly sits upright, wiping at the corner of his mouth and wincing when his shoulder smarts against his movements. He stares her down, awaiting an explanation that she only shakes her head against. She gestures past herself and to the cracked door of a hospital room and Tyler quickly accepts the invitation. He’s up in a heartbeat, his head spinning as he opens the door and lets himself into the room. Josh is out like a light, softly breathing with his ox meter occasionally beeping. His vitals look fine as far as Tyler’s sport medicine class could tell him. He approaches the bed, looking down over the other and unable to see him as someone real. He looks too pale, too ghostly for his own existence. Tyler gently reaches out, his fingertips brushing over the IV in Josh’s hand, his veins awkwardly sharp against his own skin. Tyler moves his hands, gently squeezing Josh’s cold fingers before he sighs.

                He pulls a chair over, gently lowering his body into the soft material. He looks over the hospital bed, mapping it out and counting the colored buttons on the plastic railings someone put up. Were they worried Josh would fall out of bed? Tyler looks at the red wristband Josh had on, thinking that it was probably the case. He figures if he were to pull Josh’s blankets down, he’d see matching red socks that say _Don’t Let Me Walk!_ Jenna pops in after a little bit, saying she’s going to get Tyler some overnight clothes. Tyler sends her off with a suggestion to bring back the blanket Josh always uses whenever he stays over. Thin hospital sheets never felt like home, he knew that well.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sup bitches, i love holiday breaks


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